Is solar power viable in an area that gets significant wintertime snow such as Park City, Utah?

Question

I'm interested in switching to solar power for my home. However, I live in the mountains of Park City, Utah where we get 200+ inches of snow annually. A typical January finds 4 feet of snow in the yard and nearly as much on my roof. Would I benefit from switching to solar? Would I have to plow my roof after I'm done plowing the driveway?
Thoughts?
Thanks!!!

Answer 1

It sounds like there wouldn't be enough sun through the winter to keep the power going by solar alone.

There are devices that watch your house's power load (the amount of power you're using) and combine the power from "the grid" and any solar power you're generating, thereby reducing your power bill.

Answer 2

You'll have to do the calculations. How much energy dollars would you save thanks to solar power electricity? How much would it cost to buy solar power, and maintain it? You can also do your figures for a partial year -- say you use solar power for just the non-snowy parts of the year, then erect some sort of structure over it for winter.

If you search " "Park City" Utah Solar Power" you get a lot of hits -- it looks like wind energy is viable in your area. Again, snow could be a problem, but every little bit helps.

Instead of looking for straight solar-to-electricity conversions, though, you might look into passive solar solutions -- windows that let in enough light that you don't need lights in the day time, rearranging your furniture to take advantage of that, placing masses in front of the windows to soak in the sun's energy (and the energy slowly radiates out during the night) -- that sort of thing will also be tremendously important in the years to come, and cut down on your gas bill.

Good luck! I really liked the Real Goods catalog when I was looking into this stuff, and the Nebraska Energy Office had just a wealth of information. I'm sure Utah has a similar office that will point out alternative energy sources that are suited for Utah.

Answer 3

Yes that's a great idea. The one thing though once winter is over you would have to watch that solar power. It is possible it might not work any more when winter is over because then your house will be so cod well it won't be that cold, but it will be cold. So yes that would be great just watch the temperature. Also you might have to plow your roof it depends

Answer 4

Create Home Solar Power - http://SolarPower.siopu.com/?QMK